ELCA stays neutral in sexuality statement

The Lutherans' draft report sets the stage for a debate on gay ordination at their 2009 convention in Minneapolis.

By JEFF STRICKLER, Star Tribune

Last update: March 19, 2008 - 1:35 PM

Facing a likely vote on the ordination of gays at the 2009 national convention, which will be held in Minneapolis, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on Thursday issued its Draft Statement on Human Sexuality. Seven years in the making, the report does not take a specific stand on gay ordination -- that will come in a position paper to be released in about a year -- but it does lay the groundwork for the impending debate.

"This is a social statement, not a policy statement," said the chairman of the task force that prepared the report, Bishop Peter Strommen of the Northeastern Minnesota Synod based in Duluth. Though the report addresses a wide range of subjects, he acknowledged that "the section on same-gender relationships is going to be the flashpoint."

Readers will look for hints on which way sentiment is running on gay issues but won't find any, he warned: "After many years of study and conversation, this church does not have consensus regarding loving and committed same-gender relationships," the 50-page document reads.

That lack of unanimity is reflected in the report. At one point, it says the church supports sexual relations only within the context of a "binding commitment, such as marriage," which it goes on to describe as "a structure of mutual promise between a man and a woman." But it also concedes that an argument can be made that fidelity outranks legal status. Homosexual relationships that "are chaste, monogamous and lifelong are to be held to the same rigorous standards and sexual ethics as all others."

Church leaders hope to keep the debate grounded in church ethics, Strommen said. "We don't want to turn this into a culture war. As a church, we have far more in common than we have differences."

People on both sides had hoped the report would endorse their position. Its neutrality left them feeling mutually frustrated. Mark Chavez, director of the World Alone Network, which opposes gay ordination, thinks the bishops will try to avoid taking a church-wide stand.

"They're preparing the way for a local option on blessing same-sex relationships and ordaining practicing homosexuals," he said.

But gay-rights supporters weren't happy with the language, either.

"This draft merely tolerates rather than celebrates the presence of same-gender families in the church," said Emily Eastwood, executive director of Lutherans Concerned/North America. "If the church wishes to hold persons in same-gender relationships to the same ethical standards as heterosexuals, then the church must offer the same standards of support and benefit."

If a vote on gay ordination comes up at the 2009 convention -- not a guarantee but considered a given -- the bishops plan to keep things civil and avoid negative labels.

"When we were holding hearings, we'd stop every 20 minutes for a prayer, and the people lining up on the two sides of the issue would hold hands," Strommen said. The report won't be finalized until after a series of hearings inviting church members to comment.

"We've already had requests for 90 hearings," he said. "With our last social statement, which was on education, I'd say as much as 40 percent of the language changed because of the feedback."

Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392